LOUISVILLE (PNS) — Last week, thousands of high school students across the country took part in a 17-minute walk out demanding stricter gun laws. This week, the Office of Public Witness (OPW) will participate in the “March for Our Lives” along the streets of the nation’s capital.
“This is one of the most important actions of advocacy to be held in recent years. One, because it addresses the destruction that gun violence has upon this country. Also, that sensible gun legislation is needed and Congress must act to rein in the availability of automatic weapons,” said the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, OPW director. “Most importantly, we have been inspired by witnessing our young people from around this country stand up and demand an end to gun violence in our schools and streets.”
March for Our Lives was organized by students in response to the recent shootings at high schools across the country, specifically the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida … [Read more...]

LOUISVILLE (COGA) The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) has issued a statement calling the work of three bodies created by the 222nd General Assembly (2016)—The Way Forward Commission, the All-Agency Review Committee, and the Vision 2020 Task Force—“prophetic and provocative.”
The recommendations of the three panels “can refocus and retool our denomination to serve God and to follow Christ into the 21st century,” the March 19 statement says.
The full text of the COGA statement:
“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isa. 43:18–19, NRSV).
The new things God invites us to embrace often outstretch our imaginations. And learning to trust such change can be challenging. Our denomination is moving toward a new thing. And we are being called to trust God and each other as we live into a new … [Read more...]

Kathryn Urban (left) of Washington DC joins Kristen Campbell, Pam Snyder and Betty Jones at the Commission on the Status of Women. (Photo by Sue Washburn)
NEW YORK (PNS) — While many 21-year olds are escaping the pressure of college courses on a beach during spring break, Kathryn Urban decided to head for the United Nations and the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) as part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) delegation. During the day she is learning about the challenges women face around the world and she’s spending her nights in a hostel several blocks away.
Urban, a junior at George Washington University studying International Affairs and Security Policy, is no stranger to world politics. She spent part of semester in Rwanda researching Chinese investment there. While researching, she would experience intimidation tactics like being followed or getting middle of the night phone calls from unknown callers who knew her name. But Urban’s passion for politics and policy … [Read more...]

To our sisters and brothers of the Presbyterian Church (USA):
Greetings in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!
On behalf of both the Way Forward Commission and the All Agency Review Committee, we write to you today in order to clarify confusion, and frankly misinformation, there exists around our recently released reports.
It is helpful to remember that the 222nd General Assembly’s mandate to both our groups arose from significant concern surrounding the existing ecclesial structures, particularly in regards to the Mission Agency and the PCUSA Corporation; concerns that centered on the agency’s challenges in meeting the missional needs of the denomination because it was encumbered by corporate responsibilities.
There are three particular areas we believe need addressing.
Although our work has been grounded in our reformed understanding of what it means to be church, our mandate was limited to dealing with the dysfunctions in the form and structure of our national church. … [Read more...]

"You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition” (Mk. 7:8)
(OGA) I was stunned by these words of Jesus as I was listening to a reading of Mark 7:1–8 recently. He could be speaking to us today.
In all our conversations about how the church needs to change, I have longed for a simpler, biblical/theological word. And right now, this is it for me. It feels grounded and sure.
What I hear from these words of Jesus is an admonition to cleave to God’s commandments, specifically the two greatest commandments—that of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbors as ourselves—over and above human tradition.
There is nothing inherently bad about human tradition, by any means. Much of our worship, the use of Robert’s Rules of Order, how we define our ministries, the circles with which we engage as churches: they are all based on customs and practices that have evolved over time, sometimes over centuries.
But what would it look like … [Read more...]

Over 60 people crowded into the room to hear the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis speak about poverty at the event sponsored by the Presbyterian Ministry at The United Nations for the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations. (Photo by Ryan Smith)
NEW YORK (PNS) — Today’s heroes don’t wear power suits, fly in on fancy jets or have superpowers. The real heroes of today are the people on the street helping people who are poor, connecting communities, and risking arrest in protest of oppressive systems. Oftentimes these heroes are women who work every day to make the world a better place for themselves and their children. That was the message Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis brought to the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations.
Theoharis, a Presbyterian pastor, spoke to a packed room at the event sponsored by the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations. Theoharis painted a stark picture of what it means to be poor in the United States.
“Twenty-three … [Read more...]